Recipient for cooling beverages

ABSTRACT

A vessel for cooling drinks includes external walls and inner walls that can be joined together to define internal housings to house drinks containers. The walls contain a volume of eutectic liquid, which absorbs heat and cools the drink by contact through the walls.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention falls within the technical field of portablecontainers which keep cold, and refers in particular to a container forcooling beverages which allows to cool beverages which are previously atroom temperature from the walls of the container itself.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a conventional way, when a drink is to be cooled, it is placed insidea refrigerator or cold room for a suitable period of time to achieve thedesired temperature of the drink. These refrigerators or cold storesrequire an electrical supply, so that when a user does not have accessto this electrical supply, for example, when the user is in an outsideplace, the cooling of the drink is not possible.

In order to keep a drink cold at a suitable temperature, the use ofthermal containers is known, which include adequate insulation toprevent the drink from heating up. However, in this case it is necessaryto previously cool the drink before placing it in the thermal container,as it is necessary for the drink to be introduced into the thermalcontainer at a sufficiently low temperature so that during consumptionthe drink is at the desired temperature.

Therefore, it is evident that a container is needed to cool drinks thatare at room temperature without the need for energy external to thecontainer itself, such as electricity.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With the container for the cooling of drinks of the invention, theabove-mentioned disadvantages are solved, presenting other advantagesthat will be described below.

The container for cooling beverages in accordance with the presentinvention comprises a plurality of walls defining at least one housingfor the placement of at least one beverage, and is characterized by suchat least one wall comprising an eutectic liquid which by absorbing heatcools the beverage.

In this way, the container allows a drink to be cooled by the containeritself, through the eutectic liquid contained in at least one of itswalls, without requiring any external source of energy.

The container comprises external walls and the eutectic liquid may bearranged on the external walls, and may also comprise internal walls andthe eutectic liquid may be arranged on the internal walls. In otherwords, the eutectic liquid may be arranged on at least one of theexternal walls, at least one of the internal walls, or on all the walls,both external and internal.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the interior walls are formedfrom interlocking plates, defining a plurality of interioraccommodations for the placement of at least one drink. For example,these plates can be connected by means of additional slots.

Advantageously, at least one wall of the container is made of plasticand is hollow to hold the eutectic liquid, or all the walls of thecontainer are made of plastic and each wall is hollow to hold theeutectic liquid. In addition, at least one of the walls comprises atleast one stopper for introducing or removing the eutectic liquid.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description being made and in order to help a betterunderstanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to apreferred embodiment of it, is accompanied as an integral part of thatdescription a set of drawings where with illustrative and notrestrictive, has been represented as follows:

FIG. 1.—Shows a perspective view of a container for cooling beverages inaccordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2.—Shows a perspective view of the container for cooling beveragesin accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, withits interior walls in their position of use.

FIG. 3.—It shows a section view of one of the walls of the container forcooling beverages in accordance with the first embodiment of the presentinvention, in which it can be seen that the wall is hollow and housesthe eutectic liquid inside.

FIG. 4.—Shows a perspective view of a container's section according to asecond embodiment.

FIG. 5.—Shows a view from above of a third preferential embodiment ofthe container, in which it has a cylindrical geometry.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

A detailed explanation of an example of a preferred embodiment of theobject of the present invention is given below with the help of theabove-mentioned figures.

As shown in the attached figures, the container for cooling beverages inaccordance with the present invention, generally indicated by thereference number (1), comprises an outer wall (2) and an inner wall (3)defining a plurality of housings (7) for beverages. It should be noted,however, that the inner walls (3) are not essential, and that thecontainer (1) could comprise only the outer walls (2) defining a singlehousing (7) for a beverage.

In addition, the container (1) also includes a bottom, which cannot beseen in the figures and, although it has not been depicted in thefigures, it could also include a lid so that container 1 can be closedat the top.

In order to cool drinks, at least one of the outer (2) or inner (3)walls contains an eutectic liquid (5), which cools the drink byabsorbing heat through the walls (2,3). As shown in FIG. 3, where anouter wall (2) is depicted in cross-section, the outer wall (2) ishollow, e.g. made of plastic, and houses the eutectic liquid (5). Inaddition, at least one of the walls (2), (3) includes at least one plug(6) for introducing or removing the eutectic liquid (5).

If desired, the bottom of the container (1) could also contain eutecticliquid (5), the bottom being of an equal or similar configuration to thewalls (2), (3).

In accordance with the design shown in FIGS. 1-3, the interior walls (3)are made up of two panels with slots (4), with the slots (4) of onepanel facing upwards and the slots (4) of the other panel facingdownwards, so that they can be connected to each other, forming aframework that defines a plurality of housings (7) for drinks, as shownin FIG. 2.

It should be noted, however, that the inner walls (3) could have anysuitable configuration, provided that it is possible to define aplurality of housings (7) for drinks.

In order to use the container for cooling beverages of the invention itis simply necessary to place the beverages in their respective housings(7) of the container (1) at room temperature, without prior cooling.

When the drinks are placed in the housing (7), the eutectic liquid (5)on the walls (2), (3) will absorb heat from the drinks, cooling themdown. This means that no external power source, e.g. an electricalconnection or batteries, need be used to cool the drinks, nor does itneed to be pre-cooled to keep them at a suitable temperature.

FIG. 4 shows a cutting of a second embodiment of the container (1). Ascan be seen, the walls (2), (3), incorporate defined curvatures (8) intheir lateral faces, which collaborate in the introduction and retentionof the drink containers inside the housings (7), as well as increasingthe contact surface with the container, accelerating its cooling.

FIG. 5 shows a third version of the container (1), which in this case ismade up of a single external wall (2) with a curved and closed geometry,which gives the container (1) a cylindrical shape, and a single innerwall (3), which is horizontal and has a number of through holes ashousing (7) for the introduction of the drink containers.

As can be seen in the attached figures, the outer walls (2) are providedwith slots (9) near the top as handles to allow the container (1) to beheld.

Despite the fact that reference has been made to a specific embodimentof the invention, it is clear to a person skilled in the art that thedescribed container for cooling beverages is susceptible to numerousvariations and modifications, and that all the details mentioned can bereplaced by other technically equivalent ones, without deviating fromthe scope of protection defined by the attached claims.

1. A container for cooling beverages, comprising: a plurality of wallsdefining at least one housing for the placement of at least onebeverage, wherein: at least one of the walls includes a eutectic liquidwhich, by absorbing heat, cools the beverage by contact through thewalls.
 2. The container for cooling beverages according to claim 1,wherein: the container comprises outer walls; and the eutectic liquid isarranged in the outer walls.
 3. The container for cooling of beveragesaccording to claim 1, wherein: the container comprises inner walls; andthe eutectic liquid is arranged in the inner walls.
 4. The container forcooling beverages according to claim 3, wherein the inner walls areformed from interlocking plates, defining a plurality of interiorhousings for the placement of at least one beverage.
 5. The containerfor cooling beverages according to claim 4, wherein the coupling ofthese plates forming the inner walls is done by means of complementaryslots.
 6. The container for cooling beverages according to claim 1,wherein at least one wall of the container is made of plastic and ishollow to accommodate the eutectic liquid.
 7. The container for coolingbeverages according to claim 1, wherein: all walls of the container aremade of plastic material; and each wall is hollow to accommodate theeutectic liquid.
 8. The container for cooling beverages according toclaim 1, wherein at least one of the walls comprises at least onestopper for introducing or removing the eutectic liquid.
 9. Thecontainer for cooling beverages according to claim 1, wherein the outerwalls additionally comprise through slots for holding the container. 10.The container for cooling beverages according to claim 1, wherein thewalls, comprise defined curvatures on their side faces.
 11. Thecontainer for cooling of beverages according to claim 1, wherein: thecontainer comprises inner walls; and the eutectic liquid is arranged inthe inner walls.
 12. The container for cooling beverages according toclaim 11, wherein the inner walls are formed from interlocking plates,defining a plurality of interior housings for the placement of at leastone beverage.
 13. The container for cooling beverages according to claim12, wherein the coupling of these plates forming the inner walls is doneby means of complementary slots.
 14. The container for cooling beveragesaccording to claim 2, wherein at least one wall of the container is madeof plastic and is hollow to accommodate the eutectic liquid.
 15. Thecontainer for cooling beverages according to claim 2, wherein: all wallsof the container are made of plastic material; and each wall is hollowto accommodate the eutectic liquid.
 16. The container for coolingbeverages according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the wallscomprises at least one stopper for introducing or removing the eutecticliquid.
 17. The container for cooling beverages according to claim 3,wherein at least one wall of the container is made of plastic and ishollow to accommodate the eutectic liquid.
 18. The container for coolingbeverages according to claim 3, wherein: all walls of the container aremade of plastic material; and each wall is hollow to accommodate theeutectic liquid.
 19. The container for cooling beverages according toclaim 3, wherein at least one of the walls comprises at least onestopper for introducing or removing the eutectic liquid.